Been using Matrix (Element) for a while and it’s honestly fine apart from the fact that almost no one uses it (Lemmy devs are a rare exception).

While it has many features of Discord while still being easier than IRC and encrypted to boot, I’m assuming the reason most people won’t use it is because Discord is simply more convenient. After all, that is and has been their main selling point from the beginning, aside from voice chat for gaming, which isn’t really necessary for dev communities.